Yet of them all, the Mk5 was the car I remembered least about and whose role in these proceedings was the least clear. I’d driven to the photo location in the Mk7 and fully expected the Mk5 to feel like a substantially more rubbish version thereof.
Well, I got that wrong. The Mk5 is superb. Of course, with its 2.0-litre turbo engine and near- 200bhp output, performance is unrecognisable compared with its elder relatives, but the figures place it approximately halfway between them and the Mk7 and that’s not how it feels at all. The Mk7 is quicker, but not much. The Mk5 feels properly rapid, super-strong in the mid-range and almost devoid of turbo lag. More interesting still, if you try to hoof it around in the corners, it really responds. Inevitably, grip levels are several streets ahead of either older car, but so is its willingness to adjust its line according to the whim of your right foot. Yes, all that extra weight means the feel coming back through the wheel and chassis is slightly muted, but you can steer this car on the throttle in a way that the Mk1 cannot be driven and the Mk2 chooses not to be driven. It is, in short, more fun than either, and before I drove them, I’d have bet a billion on that not being the case.

And the Mk7? It is probably the most coherent re-imagining of the original GTI philosophy there has been in these past four decades. It plays the everyday card even better today than did the Mk2 30 years ago: it is such a sophisticated, high-quality item, comprising a superb driving environment with class-leading ride and refinement yet, when the time comes, it proves to be both faster and even more fun to drive than the unexpectedly brilliant Mk5. The operative word for this car is ‘complete’, which, unlike ‘mature’, should in no way be equated with ‘boring’. Honestly, of everything I can think a car such as this should be expected to do, the Mk7 does it to a world-class standard.
So which is best? So often in these ‘old meets new’ stories, it is the modern cars that come off second best, because whatever their advantages on paper, they rarely if ever have the character of their lighter, simpler, more focused fathers.
For once, this is not one of those stories. We know the Golf GTI story over the past 40 years is one of magic captured, lost and rediscovered. But it was only by bringing together the cars responsible for the first and third acts that a clear picture of how they fare relative to each other emerges. The old cars are very cool, but Mk1s are expensive now and sufficiently limited in scope these days to be purely recreational vehicles. I might hanker after a Mk2 for sentimental reasons, but shorn of the need to perform every day and therefore of the thing it does best, it seems a little marooned. Maybe a more powerful 16-valver would be better, but I never liked them more in the day and doubt I would now.
Join the debate
Thekrankis
I am glad you skipped the dire Mk3
I owned one. Brand new in 1992. After 6 months and endless breakdowns VW gave me my money back. It was bloated and sluggish too.
I bought a 2.0ltr Mk1 Mondeo instead and that car was superb.
Liviu884422
Wow
Downunder
Who's retarded?
Firstly calling journalists "retarded" demonstrates your lack of intelligence and good manners. Secondly your opinion may not align with that of others. Your definition of "better" may not accord with mine. It is subjective.
Liviu884422
My answer
2. There are objective parameters by which one can see which is the best front-drive hatch, like power, handling, practicality, price etc. And it can be objectively seen/measured that the gti doesn't shine in any of those categories.
So stop trying to stand up for a so called journalist who has no respect for the readers and tries to push this kind of crap down their throat. Why would I give him respect when he is so full of shit and treats the readers as his dumb gullible bitches.
abkq
Journalists, whether motoring
Journalists, whether motoring or in the arts, express subjective opinions. It is already understood that by saying "the best front-drive hatch" it is meant to read "in my opinion its the best front-drive hatch" I can't imagine if every journalist has to add "in my opinion" to everything he expresses.
"He is retarded by pushing this dumb vw fanboy agenda down people's throat ... Why would I give him respect when he is so full of shit and treats the readers as his dumb gullible bitches." - No, have you considered that there are others who like GTis and agree with this article?
"There are objective parameters by which one can see which is the best front-drive hatch" - Really? So the experience of driving can be reduced to a set of figures then? If so, why need this discussion forum, why have motoring journalists then?
If you want to vent your impotent anger instead of putting forward a cogent counter-argument there are plenty of less discerning forums in which to do so, but let's keep this forum to reasonable discussion.
Waiting in hope
HALFWIT
Very rarely do I encounter a person with such a low IQ that I have to respond, but, on this occasion it's warranted. Andrew Frankel is probably one of, if not the most talented and iinformed motoring journalists you are likely to have the pleasure of encountering. A modern version of the much missed LJK Setright. So, when you you have grasped a modicum of understanding about how to convey a personal opinion about something that is deeply subjective, you may be welcome to make a sensible and adult opinion.
k12479
Liviu884422 wrote:
Drive better perhaps, but look better? While an interesting car, if you could sit in a Civic Type R, let alone own one, whithout feeling embarrased, you are either about 15 years old or the term 'classy' means very different things to each of us.
Liviu884422
for k12479
I am 25 and would be proud to own a new type R and embarrassed to be seen in a Golf. It looks just so outdated, like it was designed in 2005. A hot hatch is not about being classy, but about sportiness, liveliness and aggressiveness. Also, if you want classy, go with BMW, Audi, Merc, Lexus etc. Golf was never classy, but just a piece of overrated garbage with close to 0 reliability, which lives upon the history of the MK1 which was a decent car for its time.
Downunder
25 years old
"Embarrassed", I hear. So a 25 year old upstart with an ego and aggression. All your previous comments now make (non) sense. I do hope that you mature over the next few years. In the meantime don't have a family. They'll be upset when their opinions do not equate to yours and you refer to them as retards, (which I find most derogatory). The university of hard nocks awaits you.
k12479
Downunder wrote:
Yes, but he also has his ignorance and arrogance in a perfectly balanced yin-yang like state.
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